Reciprocating feed plate



NOV 7, 1967 H. R. SHURTLEFF 3,351,231

RECIPROCATING FEED PLATE Filed Oct. 22, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. HAROLD R. SHURTLEFF Nov. 7, 1967 H. R. SHURTLEFF v 3,351,231

RECIPROCATI NG FEED PLATE Filed Oct. 22, `1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZOO II4 ZOI III ZOI

FIG. 5 FIG. 6 FIG. 7 FIG. 8 I3 2o |40 20o I ZOO INVENTOR. HAROLD R. SHURTLEFF 44 20| FIG. 9 FIG. IO

NOV. 7, 1967 H. R. SHURTLEFF 3,351,231

RECIPROCATING FEED PLATE Filed OC'L. 22. 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 mvENToR. HAROLD RSHURTLEFF United States Patent O 3,351,231 RECIPROCATING FEED PLATE 'Harold R. Shurtletf, Rte. 1, Buzzard Bay, Bourne, Mass. 02532 Filed Oct. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 501,171 9 Claims. (Cl. 22113) This invention relates to a reciprocating feed plate. In particular, it relates to a reciprocating plate for feeding objects from the end of a stack of objects to a) moving means containing signaling means for operating the reciprocity.

The invention comprises in its most general sense, a moveable plate having teeth or friction strips, means for moving the plate between a position beneath a stack of the objects to be fed, and a delivery position, means for receiving individual objects in some pre-arranged manner and transporting away and a signaling means for causing said moving means to operate.

The embodiment illustrated in the drawings illustrates the invention adapted for use with rapid feeding of foam rubber shoe innersoles alternately from the bottom of magazines on either side to desired locations on a moving belt.

FIG. l is a plan view of the apparatus with no innersoles in the magazines but showing some soles in phantom. In this ligure, phantom sole 204 is about ready to drop onto a desired location on the moving belt 131.

FIG. 2 is a left side elevation of FIG. 1 with the belt omitted.

FIG. 3 is an isometric left-front view of the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an enlargement of a portion of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic cross section of the lower left-hand portion of FIG. 2 showing the bottom sole 201 of stack 200 prior to being moved to the right.

FIG. 6 is a similar view to FIG. 5 showing the initial motion of the sole 201.

FIG. 7 is also similar to FIG. 5 and shows the sole 201 in proper position but not yet disengaged.

FIG. 8 shows the same view as FIG. 5 but in this case illustrating the retu-rn of the shuttle so that sole 204 is now ready to drop. (Return of sole prevented by finger 123.)

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic illustration of two auxiliary stack supporting members.

FIG. 10 is a similar view to FIG. 9, in this case shows the auxiliary members relieving a portion of the weight of the stack.

FIG. 111 is an exploded view of the mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated therein a base plate 100', having mounting blocks 101, 102, 103 and 104 for supporting the mechanism and spacers 100a, 100b 100C and 1000? to permit the base plate to be set over the moving belt 131. The base plate 100 has a large central cutout area 100e to permit the fed objects to pass through to the appropriate decals 1310 on the moving belt 131.

Extending between blocks 101 and 103 on the left side is a rod 115 on which a sliding block 110 is mounted. On the right hand side is a similar rod 116 extending between blocks 102 and 104 and on which a sliding block 109 is mounted. Blocks 109 and 110 support the reciprocating plate 111 which has a large portion 112 cutout in its center to allow objects to fall through to the belt and contains on its front and rear sides arrays of stripper pins 113 and 114. These pins are in the nature of teeth and are characterized in that they have their points facing generally towards the center of the mechanism, in this case approximately 70.

Mounted across blocks 101 and 102 is a front magazine support plate 105, while across blocks 103 and 104 is a ICC rear magazine support plate 106. Front magazine support plate has a plurality of slots 105a which are registerable with the pins 113. Similarly, magazine plate 106 has slots 106a which are registerable with pins 114. Walls 107 and 108 complete the open magazines for stacks 210 and 200 respectively of foam rubber innersoles as illustrated in these drawings.

In FIG. 11 a pair of soft foam rubber strips 301 are shown, replacing two rows of pins, to illustrate the use of friction strips. The strips would protrude through the slots 105er much in the same manner as the pins. Such strips also could be made with an abrasive surface.

A photocell is mounted on a support 129 attached to block 101. Photocell 130 is adapted to give a signal when it reads the markers 132 on the moving belt. As soon as the signal is initiated, it causes a single stroke to take place in air cylinder 119. Thus, any one photoelectric signal will cause either an inward or outward stroke of piston 118 which is connected by piston rod 117 to tie rod 120, which has an extension engageable with either forward limit switch 133 or rearward limit switch 134.

This embodiment also incorporates a positioning mechanism comprising on the left side position finger housing 121, with a bottom plate 12011 and slots 121b. Shaft 121C is supported by this housing 121. A plurality of positioning fingers such as 123, 124 and 125 rotate on either end of shaft 121C. A duplicate of this housing is found on the right side for cooperation with the right magazine wherein the fingers are designated as 126, 127 and 128. As illustrated in FIGS. 5 through 8, only one of these positioning fingers at each end of 121 is used at any one time with a magazine. Thus, in FIGS. 5 through 8, finger 123 (and unseen finger 123m) serve to prevent the return of the sole 201 when the pins 114 are retracted.

The size and shape of the linger is determined by the size and shape of the object being fed. A slight inward curvature at the very bottom, 108:1, of the magazine wall 108 also assists in the positioning, by cooperating and acting as a stop for the finger 123. As is noted, nger 123 swings upward when an object is passed towards the center and then drops down toact as a stop as soon as the object has passed. -As an additional feature, air cylinders 139 and 140, arranged to operate at the same time as the main air cylinder 188, are provided. These cylinders operate wedge members 143 and 144 on either side of a stack of objects so as to relieve the reciprocating plate from undue weight. FIG. 9 shows the wedge members at rest; in FIG. 10 they are relieving weight-hence insuring that the reciprocating plate will not jarn.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the belt moves towards the left and the soles are dropped in an alternating pattern, as for example, 205 on the belt.

A typical cycle can be briey stated as follows: Photocell 130 reads mark 132 which indicates that pattern 131a on belt 131 is in position to receive sole 214. Photocell 130 thereupon sends an actuating signal by conventional electrical means (not illustrated) to air cylinder 119 which accordingly causes a single stroke or one direction movement of the shuttle plate 111. In the position illustrated in FIG. 1, the stroke will be inward so that sole 214 is released from the pins 113 and falls onto the appropriate decal. Limit switch 134 stops the action until the photocell reads another marker. The same stroke which caused 214 to be dropped onto the moving belt also pulled in 201 which was waiting as the bottom member of the left hand stack. With objects of this general size and shape, it is possible to have a feed rate of between 7000 and 9000 units per hour with the illustrated apparatus.

Although these drawings are with reference to foam rubber innersoles, this invention is broadly applicable to any stackable object having a at bottom surface and pierceable by a pin. Certain objects may have insufficient thickness for use in such a fashion, but this is often determined by the nature of the material used. Further, although this invention has been illustrated primarily with reference to arrays of angular pins or teeth, I have also determined that the pins can be replaced by strips of similarly positioned material having a higher friction, with the objects than the objects have to one another, as for example, a foam rubber strip or an abrasive surfaced strip. Such strips are preferred in place -of pins where the insertion of a pin is damaging to the material or where the material is highly resilient.

Although this invention is illustrated with a pair of magazines and a shuttle plate alternating between the two magazines so that one is loading while the other is feeding, it is, of course, within the scope of this invention to use a single magazine. In this case, only a single array of stripper pins and finger mechanism would be needed or used. Further, although the mechanism illustrated is actuated by a photoelectric cell, limit switches, and air switches, it is obvious that other controls and other forms of mechanical or electro-mechanical movement can be used with this invention.

The embodiment illustrated in the drawings shows a moving belt as an example of a movable transporting means, with the direction of the belt being perpendicular to the direction of motion of the reciprocating plate. This invention is not limited to such an arrangement and may also include other movable transporting means, as for example, a pair of feed rollers. Further, the motion of the transporting means may be in the same direction as the motion of the reciprocating plate. Also, although photoelectric control means have been exemplified for correlating the motion of the shuttle plate with the motion of the transporting means, other control means, whether responsive or otherwise, may be used. I have found, however, that by use of the photoelectric control exemplified in the drawings, I can obtain a very high degree of correlation with a moving belt, which characteristically varies in its speed due to the stretch and tension of the belt.

Also, the embodiment illustrated in the drawings shows a gravity feed whereby the object is pulled out from the bottom of the stack and allowed to drop through to the moving belt, with the next object falling into position for engaging the plate. However, this invention is not limited to gravity feed and includes pressure means for both feeding to the plate and moving the object from the plate to the transporting means. Thus, the magazines could be inverted and objects spring fed from the top.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for delivering an object (201) from the end of a stack of objects (200) comprising: a reciprocating, moveable plate (111) having frictional means (114) for engaging the outer surface of the object (201) and a lixed plate (121e) mounted above said moveable plate (111); said fixed plate (121a) having a plurality ot spaced slots (12111) along one edge; a plurality of positioning fingers l(124) of varying sizes being pivotally mounted above said slots (12111); the direction of motion of said moveable plate (111) being transverse to said edge; spaced within a selected pair of said slots (121b) so that motion of the moveableplate (111) away from the stack will cause said object (201) to lift said fingers (124) and then `cause them to drop back into said slots (121b) i said moveable plate (111) with the motion of the con-` veyor belt so that the object (2.01) will fall on a selectedV position on the belt.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said correlating means includes photo-electric signaling means responsive to the position of markers on the conveyor belt.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein there are two separated stacks and the moveable plate has engaging means on either side of a central opening and shuttles between said stacks.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the engaging means comprises a plurality of spaced pins or a plurality of strips of material having higher relative friction with the object than the objects have with one another.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the engaging means lcomprises a plurality of spaced angular pins.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the engaging means comprises a plurality of spaced strips made of material having higher relativefriction withV the object than the objects have with one another.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 537,811 4/1895 Bowie et al. 221-259 730,920 6/1903 Joecken.`

921,185 5/1909 Van Dyke 221--259 1,246,592 11/1917 Harvey. 1,981,467 11/1934 Radtke 221-117 2,253,854 8/1941 Handley et al. 221-'116 2,443,877 6/ 1948 Vacin Z50-223 X 2,551,199 5/1951 Basus 221--250 X 2,620,250 12/1952 Pierson 221-259 X 2,635,025 4/1953 Ziska 221--216 2,639,824 5/1953 Shannon et al. 221-216 2,738,102 3/1956 Shepherd 221--216 X SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner.

at least one pair of said tingers (124) being 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING AN OBJECT (201) FROM THE END OF A STACK OF OBJECTS (200) COMPRISING: A RECIPROCATING, MOVEABLE PLATE (111) HAVING FRICTIONAL MEANS (114) FOR ENGAGING THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE OBJECT (201) AND A FIXED PLATE (121A) MOUNTED ABOVE SAID MOVEABLE PLATE (111); SAID FIXED PLATE (121A) HAVING A PLURALITY OF SPACED SLOTS (121B) ALONG ONE EDGE; A PLURALITY OF POSITIONING FINGERS (124) OF VARYING SIZES BEING PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ABOVE SAID SLOTS (121B); THE DIRECTION OF MOTION OF SAID MOVEABLE PLATE (111) BEING TRANSVERSE TO SAID EDGE; AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF SAID FINGERS (124) BEING SPACED WITHIN A SELECTED PAIR OF SAID SLOTS (121B) SO THAT MOTION OF THE MOVEABLE PLATE (111) AWAY FROM THE STACK WILL CAUSE SAID OBJECT (201) TO LIFT SAID FINGERS (124) AND THEN CAUSE THEM TO DROP BACK INTO SAID SLOTS (121B) BEHIND SAID OBJECT (201) SO AS TO BLOCK REVERSE MOTION OF SAID OBJECT (201) AND HENCE CAUSE SAID OBJECT (201) TO DROP IN THE DESIRED POSITION. 